Overview

• On June 11, Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate issued a memo ordering the DOJ Civil Division to “prioritize and maximally pursue” civil denaturalization proceedings against naturalized citizens accused of fraud, serious crimes or misrepresentation.
• The civil process carries a lower burden of proof than criminal trials and denies individuals court-appointed attorneys, accelerating the timeline for revoking citizenship.
• On June 13, a federal judge revoked the citizenship of Elliott Duke under the new framework, marking the first completed enforcement action.
• The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has been repurposed to spearhead the policy, instructing civil attorneys to identify and file eligible denaturalization cases without traditional criminal-case safeguards.
• With roughly 25 million naturalized Americans potentially subject to review, the initiative revives a seldom-used power and intensifies due-process questions under the 14th Amendment.